Library Holiday Hours: New Year’s

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Both the main Nathan Library (Rockefeller Research Building) and the CyberLibrary cafe (Zuckerman Research Center) will close at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 31st.

On Thursday, January 1st, both locations will be closed in observance of the New Year’s holiday.

The libraries will reopen on Friday, January 2nd: The main Library will reopen at 8:30 AM and the CyberLibrary cafe will reopen at 8:00 AM.

The Library staff would like to extend best wishes for a safe and happy New Year.

Late December Blog Buzz

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‘Tis the season for year-end lists and Science Friday gave their list of 2014’s best science books.

It may be old news for some readers, but Matt Shipman gave a roundup of the changes to the Scientific American Blog Network that were announced beginning on December 15th.

Also a catch-up item, Gary Schwitzer’s Health News Review is back, having recently announced a two-year 1.3 million dollar grant and new plans for 2015.

Finally, for some science-themed winter fun, head on over to Symmetry Magazine to download templates for Deck the Halls with Nobel Physicists in the form of snowflakes! An exacto knife and cutting mat are required for these detailed designs so this is an activity for kids at heart and, possibly, supervised, older children.

 

MSK Partners with IBM to Introduce New Skin Cancer Detection System and more…

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  • MSK has partnered with IBM to introduce a new Skin Cancer Detection System. The system can categorize images of skin lesions into those that are melanoma, atypical and benign groups. Tests found the system 95% accurate in detecting cancerous lesions as compared to the accuracy of doctors which is 75 – 84%.
  • A study carried out at MSK in which the drug AG-221 was given to patients with acute myeloid leukemia achieved an overall response rate of 56%. 15 patients reached complete remission and 10 reached partial remission and the response is ongoing. The study’s lead investigator, Dr. Eytan M. Stein, stated that the medication “has the potential to transform treatment of leukemia.”
  • A review co-authored by MSK’s Dr. Babak J. Mehrara, a plastic surgeon, found that less than 40% of U.S. women who have mastectomies opt for immediate reconstruction. Some of the reasons include fear of complications and fear that immediate reconstruction will postpone the initiation of chemotherapy. Another concern is that reconstruction can heighten the risk of recurrence. In reality, reconstruction can improve the quality of life for some women.